Gilbert G. Lenssen - Managing Sustainable Business

This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Science+Business Media B.V. part of Springer Nature.

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This book provides an excellent framework for managers to pursue sustainable business in a strategic way. At the same time, it is a learning model, starting with the foundations of risk management and stakeholder management and moving on to the more complex challenges of strategic differentiation and business model innovation. The most challenging part however is the organizational change management and talent development which needs to follow or go hand in hand with the strategic processes.

The wealth of case studies and supporting texts is derived from the legacy of ABIS The Academy of Business in Society where business schools and companies are working together to enhance the knowledge base for sustainable business. The book follows the rationale of the business manager in a very practical manner, and I hope it will be widely used in executive education and become a core part of learning and talent development.

Before I joined Solvay S.A., I was the CEO of a pharmaceutical company, the chairman of the Belgian Employers Association and one of the hundred founders of the Club of Rome in 1968. I was convinced of the necessity of sustainability whether environmental, social or ethical.

During my stay at the helm of Solvay S.A. (19842006), our global company became even more global and even more conscious of the rising global sustainability challenges. As a 150-year-old family-controlled company, we understood very well what sustainability meant. My management colleagues and I, with the support of my family shareholders, decided increasingly to take strategic decisions and operational execution only when we could grow profitably in a sustainable way, with due respect for environmental, social and ethical issues. With these principles in mind, we have reorganized some businesses, we have sold businesses where we could no longer see profitable growth with sustainability, and we have acquired businesses where we could see growth with sustainable profitability.

This book offers managers a systematic approach for pursuing sustainable profitability by integrating economic, social, environmental and ethical dimensions in business strategy and decision-making. As a member of the INSEAD Advisory Council, I have argued for a long time that the future of capitalism is in peril if despite its global and remarkable successes business cannot control and minimize its failures and excesses (greed, inequality, corruption, climate change, social injustice, etc.). The solution must be a more sustainable market economy. I am convinced that businesses, when profitable, sustainable and innovative, are a force for good, for a better world. I think therefore that the business schools curriculum should address the sustainability challenges in serious ways. I am very happy to see that this book offers a down-to-earth framework for making this happen. I congratulate the editors and the authors for their unique contribution to business education.

In this chapter, we are presenting an outline of the conceptual framework for this book. This framework is also a step-by-step model for managers to identify risks and opportunities for sustainable business and therefore also a managerial framework for decision making, as well as a supervisory framework for the board.

As set out in the introductory chapter, the key to sustainable business is in achieving the right balance between managing competitiveness and profitability for attractive returns to shareholders with managing the political, social and ecological context of the business which in turn can enhance competitiveness and profitability. Managing the context of the business is focused on both protecting value against sustainability risks and creating new value from sustainability opportunities. In managing context, the business is perceived as generating benefits for all stakeholders (including its shareholders) and as a credible and trustworthy player for these stakeholders.